The present invention relates to a safety lighter having features offering resistance to ready use of the lighter. The invention particularly relates to a child-resistant safety lighter.
Conventional lighters include a housing having a reservoir containing a fuel under pressure. A valve normally closes off a fuel outlet and is movable between valve-closed and valve-open positions by a pivoted lever. The lever typically has a thumbpress at one end and valve-engaging element at an opposite end whereby pivoting movement of the lever moves the valve from the valve-closed position to the valve-open position to release fuel into a flame region of the lighter. A conventional lighter also includes a flint engageable by a strike wheel to produce a spark upon rotation of the strike wheel. The spark ignites the fuel to produce a flame. The strike wheel is typically rotated by engaging an individual's thumb against the strike wheel per se or one or more contact wheels associated with the strike wheel to produce sparks and, hence, the flame once the lever has been depressed to release the fuel. Lighters such as these are well known. Their dangers, e.g., inadvertent or accidental ignition, and particularly by children, are likewise well known. For example, a child may run the contact wheels or strike wheel along a floor, surface or a rug while maintaining the lever depressed in an effort to ignite the lighter, whereas otherwise the child would not have sufficient strength to actuate the lighter by rotating the strike wheel or contact wheels.
Attention has been directed to various mechanisms to prevent inadvertent actuation of the lighter. For example, mechanisms have been proposed and constructed preventing pivoting movement of the lever by incorporating a locking mechanism that physically blocks the downward movement of the thumbpress unless a safety catch is first actuated to unlock the lighter. Other safety mechanisms have included guard bands spaced from the contact wheels and having a greater diameter than the contact wheels such that only an adult's thumb would have sufficient mass to project between the guard band surfaces to engage and rotate the contact wheels and hence actuate the lighter. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,882,186; 5,769,098 or 5,483,978. However, many of these proposed safety devices require additional parts and assembly steps which adversely increase the cost of the lighter.